Loveland man sentenced for alcohol-fueled stabbing

A Loveland man who stabbed another man five times out of rage over an attack that killed his girlfriend was ordered on Friday to serve seven years in prison.

A jury found Casey Albee, 29, guilty in July of both second-degree and first-degree assault in the heat of passion against Shannon Small. Small on July 3, 2013, fatally stabbed Albee’s girlfriend, Stephanie Rose Smith, in self-defense after a late-night alcohol-fueled party in the 4000 block of West Eisenhower Boulevard in Loveland.

As Albee’s party winded down, anger erupted into a verbal assault that quickly turned physical, prosecutors said. While versions of the story shifted throughout police interrogations and witness testimony, it was ruled that Small had acted in self-defense when he stabbed Smith once.

Incensed at the sight of his bloodied girlfriend, Albee stabbed Small five times with a paring knife, including at least once in the back. The wound suggested Small was trying to get away from Albee, hence why Albee was unable to claim self-defense.

“You did your very best to kill me,” Small told Albee during Friday’s sentencing before being scolded for addressing the defendant and not 8th Judicial District Chief Judge Stephen Schapanski. Small lost 6 pints of blood on the way to the hospital and testified that if not for the rapid response and care from emergency room physicians and paramedics, he would have died.

As he recovered in a hospital bed, Small sobbed when he found out he had killed Smith, prosecutors said, adding that it was an action that originated because of Albee’s decisions that night.

Even though Albee “started the ball rolling” that evening, the District Attorney’s Office said he still refused to take any responsibility, adding that his “ammo is jealousy, rage and drinking.”

Despite his “checkered past,” defense attorneys maintained that Albee was a peaceful and calm person when he was sober.

“I still don’t know how to feel,” Albee told the judge. Though a prison sentence was mandatory because of the nature of the crimes, Albee and his attorneys pushed for a short sentence and reiterated that he already had to deal with the tragedy of losing his longtime girlfriend. Being locked away for longer, they said, would not be restorative or allow him to draw on the support of his family, many of whom attended Friday’s hearing.

Shapanski acknowledged the case was rife with inconsistencies, full of contradictions and had one of the “most confusing sets of facts” he had ever seen while on the bench. That said, he reiterated that Albee was ultimately the common denominator in the death of his girlfriend and Small’s stabbing, and as such, the lower end of the sentencing was appropriate.

Because of the nature of the offense, Albee could have been sentenced to upward of 24 years in prison.

Reporter Jason Pohl covers breaking news and courts for the Coloradoan. Follow him on Twitter: @pohl_jason.